Stargazing 🌌

Research on light pollution suggests about a third of humanity can't see the Milky Way from where they live, so stargazing starts with getting away from the city. Star-trail photos come from leaving the shutter open long enough for the Earth's turning to draw each star into a line. Nights around the new moon, with no moonlight, are best.

Nature tops the pack and aesthetic is very high too. You want to see something beautiful out in nature, and stargazing is the only square here where both axes run that high together.

Adventure is a little above the middle. You'll happily drive out late to find somewhere without lights — and then all you do is lie back and look up. You find meaning in time spent doing nothing.

You go well with someone who can handle cold and waiting. You see more stars once your eyes adjust to the dark, and that means keeping phone screens off until then. In a bracket stargazing has the legs to reach the final; not many people have actually done it, but plenty want to.

The nearest square is camping, then flower viewing — quiet weekends spent outside looking at something. The furthest is the theme park. One avoids the lights; the other walks straight into them.